This is a great article from PCGamesN which talks with Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell about a variety of topics.

"While at college, Wardell wrote the original Galactic Civilizations - a grand space strategy game that established Stardock’s reputation in that genre. But publishers Strategy First filed for bankruptcy and he never received his royalties, instead building the company off the back of a popular OS/2 utilities package, Essentials.

That series of events helped establish a pattern for Stardock’s business: ambitious strategy games supported by more financially successful software. The studio went on to make Object Desktop, a Windows customisation and productivity enhancement suite that is still “by far” where most of their money comes from. That, and Wardell’s undisputed ownership, has allowed them to doggedly design only the sort of games they want to.

"It can be tough to reconcile this attitude with the man who went to such lengths to make up for Elemental’s launch, and who once wrote a PC gamer’s Bill of Rights to try and ensure that players weren’t “treated as potential criminals” by developers or publishers. These are acts of corporate empathy. But both are sides of Brad Wardell, and both therefore part of the Stardock of today."